


Sticky-Sweet Secret

by xenoshadel



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Subtle Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-07
Updated: 2015-07-07
Packaged: 2018-04-08 03:03:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4288290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xenoshadel/pseuds/xenoshadel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Robin only wanted to practice her stealth, but what if there were hidden ways to being sneaky as a thief?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sticky-Sweet Secret

Quiet breathing, quiet walking, and blending with the silence of the night would seem like a simple skill for anyone to pick up. Leather boots tapped against the ground and brown eyes gleamed in triumph until the sound of a _snap!_ caught Robin’s ears, her eyes looking down to glare at the broken twig at her boots. She stepped away from the twig only to land on another, and a chorus of _snap! snap!_ seemed to shatter the silence under the watchful moon. Hissing in agitation, Robin walked forward and ignored the multiple twigs that broke from the pressure of her boots, and she glanced around once she heard a stifled chuckle.

“If you wanted to practice sneaking around, avoiding your victims of nature would help.” A head of ginger hair shined from the moonlight and the thief strolled towards Robin with a smirk on his face, the sounds of footsteps absent when he avoided the broken twigs.

Robin blinked in wonder when she saw how _easy_ he made it seem to silently walk up to her, and she let out a sigh. “Avoiding them seemed simple to do until you slip up and it becomes painfully difficult to stay quiet. It’s the first night of practice, so there’s still room for improvement.”

“Keep it up and you’d might as well wake the whole army up.” Gaius grinned when Robin’s face twisted into a scowl and he tilted his head at her. “Though what’s with the acts of attempted stealth?”

“Being as stealthy as a thief, one like yourself, is a skill that will give me the upper hand in battle if I, say, saw a group of the enemy’s captains discussing potential plans or one of our allies captured. Silent, nimble movements will allow me to overhear anything useful for me to use, rescue someone—“

“Quietly get to the kitchen, put the blame on someone else, oh I know how the list goes, Bubbles,” Gaius interrupted, and he continued before he couldn’t refrain himself from cheekily smiling at the look of annoyance on Robin’s face, “But to be as stealthy as a thief, such as yours truly, you could’ve asked for a few pointers? Learn from the best to know how to be the best?”

“You won’t mind?” Robin asked in surprise.

“Not at all, Bubbles. Teaching you would be sweet, and you don’t need to step away from twigs to learn either,” Gaius said with a shrug. “There’s an open spot in the forest we could try out, if you don’t end up breaking branches or stepping on a toad on the way there—“

“Let’s just get going.” The tactician rolled her eyes when the thief chuckled and lead her away from the outskirts of camp, the trees towering over them as they walked. Fewer snaps and sounds of crunched leaves came from her, and still nothing from the ginger before her. The path before them opened up after a few minutes and Gaius dropped his bag of sweets on the ground, turning to look at her with a glint in his eyes.

“How to be a thief by the army’s beloved! Now, when it comes to being silent…”

A couple trials of slinking, careful walking, and broken twigs passed as Robin attempted to copy Gaius’s demonstrations of his supposed simple acts of stealth. A hop here and there, a furrowed brow from distributing her weight on her toes, and yet Gaius remained patient as he repeated a certain lesson and quieted his laughter after a few too many sounds of crunched leaves. Robin carefully crept to follow an imaginary path after watching the thief perform for her, her movements slow when she side-stepped, and Gaius slowly shook his head when he walked towards her.

“You can either move like you’re after something or like you’ll fall over if something gets in the way,” Gaius said with a chuckle. He moved to stand behind her and position her arms until they’re parallel to the ground. “Center your weight, watch your feet, and move like so.” With his light hold on her, they moved as one and Robin copied the way he crept, her eyes narrowed in concentration, and not a twig was stepped on during those moments. Just as she was about to voice her gratitude, the thief softly crooned as they made light movements and side-steps.

“Sugar sugar sweetness, bon-bon-bons away, just a little bit of syrup and the deal is done.”

Robin turned to give him an odd look and tried to make sense of her thoughts before asking: “Gaius, are you… _singing?_ ”

“Strawberry lollie oh lollie, honey got the goods but they’re stuck to her hands. What’s a man to do without the sugar sugar sweetness?” Gaius winked at her and hummed a few lines of the tune, looking away to keep himself from grinning at her look of bafflement. “Sugar sugar sweetness, won’t you give the cream and jelly before they go lollie lollie ooh!”

Robin squeaked when the thief’s arm wrapped around her waist and he took her right hand to mimic a dance, holding her waist to sway with him while he hummed and looked down at her, green eyes teasing at her look of surprise.

Robin shuffled awkwardly and sighed, “Please tell me you weren’t doing this in the castle.”

“Dancing by the walls and hoping to serenade a certain tactician? I would’ve if I knew about ol’ Bubbles here,” Gaius chuckled, and he watched how Robin rolled her eyes at him, how she didn’t resist his hold on her as they carried on their little dance. He stepped back to spin her in a little circle before holding both of her hands and bringing them to his chest when he stepped towards her, his face close enough for her to see how his eyes shined while he gazed at her. Had he been a few inches closer, their lips would have brushed against each other, and the thought swept a warming blush on Robin’s cheeks. Gaius smirked when he noticed the pink color and pulled away from her, letting go of her hands to bow in a dramatic way.

“Today’s lesson is done, Bubbles.”

Brown eyes blinked in confusion. “But I didn’t really sneak around much. I just… danced?”

“Staying light on your toes is step one to being a thief, right?” Gaius asked innocently.

Robin bit her lower lip and slowly nodded. “Well yes, but—wait. Gaius, do you _dance_ in your spare time?”

He waved his hand nonchalantly and snorted. “Nah. Living in the slums makes you pick up a few tunes to drown away the babbling noise of things you don’t want to hear. This was just a cherry on the cake, really. And,” he paused to lean in close and tap her forehead, “you better not tell anyone about this. I’ll make you a cake to score the deal. My treat.”

Robin rolled her eyes while groaning, “I will _not_ blackmail you, Gaius. Gods know how many more times I’ll have to say this. I promise I won’t tell anyone about you… being able to dance—“

“And sing. Don’t forget that.”

“Fine. Dance _and_ sing. No one will know, and no cake. All right?”

Green eyes still narrowed at her in suspicion and a blue lollipop was revealed, careful fingers quickly unwrapping it. “You sure, Bubbles? No Blue to come storming into my tent for a dance lesson? Or asking me to join forces with Pinkie and twirl for you guys?”

A light bulb flashed in Robin’s mind and she deviously smiled at him. “A promotion would be nice for your sake.”

“Extra gold is great but—“ Realization hit the thief and he vehemently shook his head. “Okay, as much as I know you would love to see my abs of steel and toned legs, I won’t wear the ribbons. One, I can’t hide my sweets on me with the… whatever I’ll be wearing. And two,” the familiar smirk tugged on his lips and he folded his arms, “I would rather wear the ribbons _only_ for you, Bubbles, if that’s how you want to sweeten the deal.”

A wave of red washed over the tactician’s face and she pushed his shoulder when she walked past him. “That wasn’t what I meant, Gaius,” she muttered darkly. “I’ll keep your blasted secret, cake or no cake.”

Gaius laughed and trailed behind her, picking his bag of candy from the ground and swinging it over his shoulder. “Whatever the tactician wants, she shall get. Ooh whatever you say, Bubbles!”

The forest was thinning as they walked, or stormed through the trees in Robin’s case, and she slowed her pace to glance at the thief when they caught sight of the campground, her face slightly scrunched in thought at her next words. “You know, I’m surprised that you did that for me. Aren’t you supposed to be the keeper of many secrets?”

Gaius raised an eyebrow at her. “What do you mean by that?”

“I mean, why did you sing to me and dance with me?”

He hummed for a moment, a long interval that shifted into the familiar melody of the tune before he responded, “I dunno. It just slipped out when I was having fun with you.”

Robin smiled and nudged his arm with her elbow. “Despite the fact that you were being _Gaius,_ for lack of a better word, I got something out of it and had fun too.”

Gaius grinned, giving her a wink once they reached the tents closest to them. “There’s plenty of me to go around, Bubbles, but I’m glad it was sweet for you.”

With light steps taken towards the middle of the campground, the tactician turned to bid the thief goodnight, who only saluted her with the lollipop in his hand before heading towards his tent and stealing a final glance at the retreating head of silver hair. Upon reaching the small room of scrolls and tomes, Robin shifted her weight from one foot to another, almost as though she was dancing, and she quietly chuckled when she raised her arm and hummed Gaius’s silly tune. Step here, step there, keep the weight on the toes, and the little dance was only part of the amusement of it all. She decided that would do for lesson one, and she hummed herself to sleep once the light of the candle was blown out.

***

Come the sun and the familiar chirping of birds, and up goes the tactician to rub the sleep out of her eyes. She heard the sound of a plate on her desk and she murmured her gratitude while stretching her arms in front of her.

“Thank Gaius for the cake, not me,” Chrom said in amusement, standing by the flaps of the tent.

Robin looked at him in surprise before shifting her focus towards the desk, the sleep wiped away thanks to the sight of a decorated cake staring back at her. She shook her head and sighed, “I told him _not_ to make me a cake but—you know, okay. That’ll be my breakfast. I’ll _thank_ him once I find him.”

Chrom chuckled and shrugged a shoulder. “Breakfast for champions perhaps. See you at the strategy tent, Robin.”

She only muttered her reply and walked towards the waiting cake, the sponge layers dripped with extra syrup and sugary creams her mind couldn’t recall on. A delicate structure built by the hands that were known for crafting, and yet those hands were also known for snatching the smallest grain of sugar. How the thief kept himself from sneaking in a bite of his own, the tactician will never know, and she raised an eyebrow when she saw a piece of paper peaking from under the plate. Once unfolded, the note revealed scribbled writing that read:

“Just in case, Bubbles! Oh yeah, more skills means more cake. Extra cake if you bring ribbons.”

Rather than a signature at the end, a small picture of a familiar bear lollipop was drawn. Robin groaned and crumpled the note, though she shoved it in her pocket instead of burning it with a simple spell. Her hopes of acquiring stealth may take longer than she originally planned with the teasing thief, and in spite of that, a smile still curled her lips at the thought of her next lesson.

**Author's Note:**

> Hah, oh this was a fun one! I don't know if you guys saw the post on Tumblr, but the inspiration for this was a post of Gaius's face on Kronk from The Emperor's New Groove, and he was singing while he was sneaking around. The fact that Gaius would actually do that was too glorious to pass, and so here's this! I hope you guys enjoyed this, and you can also find this on my Tumblr [@xenoshadel](http://xenoshadel.tumblr.com/). Thanks for the read! :D . I also have a [ko-fi page](http://ko-fi.com/A35327K1/) if anyone ever wants to leave me a tip!


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